Dow/Dupont Merger Final This Month; Corn/Soy Outlook Lower

**Dow Chemical and DuPont say their merger will be final on the last day of the month.

The two largest U.S. chemical makers say they’ve all the necessary regulatory approvals to close the deal August 31st.

Within a year-and-a-half of closing the new Dow-DuPont company plans to split into three separate companies: agriculture, specialty products and materials.

**Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue says his department has a chance to help the Trump Administration craft a legal farmworker bill.

Speaking to reporters recently as part of his “Back to Our Roots” RV tour, Perdue expressed a desire to provide more labor certainty to farmers.

He says it’s not as critical in a cash grain operation because it’s mechanical, but when you get to ag groups like dairy, labor is critical and we’re working on solutions for the H2A program.

**The USDA has lowered its 2017 production outlook for July corn, while raising the estimate for soybeans. This is the first set of field based production numbers of 2017, with widely varied weather during the growing season.

As of August 1st, this year’s corn crop is expected to be 14.153 billion bushels with an average yield of 169.5 bushels per acre, down from last month’s projections of 14.255 billion with an average yield of 170.7.

Soybeans are pegged at 4.381 billion bushels with an average yield of 49.4 bushels per acre. In July, the USDA had beans at 4.260 billion bushels with an average yield of 48.0.